Shadowing Practice: Subliminals 101 - how to listen THE CORRECT WAY - Learn English Speaking with Video
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If you have heard about subliminals or even hypnosis, binaural beats or frequencies, you're wondering if it works,
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if it's a hoax, can you actually manifest drastic appearance changes, lots of money, or your SP specific person.
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Here's the thing, there is over a century of documented research behind it, and today the most popular form of subliminals is audio.
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Now there is a specific way to listen to subliminals but people don't really talk about what they are, where it came from, why it works,
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how to do it correctly and safely or explain what you might be doing wrong and making everything worse.
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So I will.
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My name is Mei.
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My podcast and community is called Stoic Angels where we talk about complete transformation of the mind, body and spirit.
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If you're into that don't forget to subscribe because there's more where this comes from.
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Not to mention this subject is near and dear to my heart because I studied design psychology.
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I got dual degrees in them.
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So my very first YouTube channel, which honestly doesn't count because I only posted two videos,
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I made my own subliminal audio and I posted it online on my channel because I couldn't find any that I liked.
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It actually did pretty well.
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I got like 2,000 views.
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But the idea of subliminal messaging itself is very much a cross between my two academic disciplines
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and I actually actively use it to change my thoughts, designing the mind, so to speak.
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If you want to go even deeper on this and put in the work, I actually made a free guide and workbook that walks you through building your own subconscious reprogramming practice.
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It's linked in the description below this video and you can download it for free.
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Thank you to Opera Air for sponsoring this video.
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Before we get into our subliminal deep dive, I wanted to talk about the fact that the research for this video almost didn't happen because I was reading one study.
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Three hours later, I was in a deep rabbit hole 14 taps into reading about CIA experiments in the 50s.
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I was also on my phone this entire time while I was doing this.
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So sometimes it's not about your lack of focus, but the system that you're using.
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Specifically, it's your browser.
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I have been using Opera Air for over a year now.
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It is my main browser and the whole concept behind it, when I first heard about them,
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it's actually shocking because they measure success by how quickly you get off the internet and lock off.
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Many of us rely on the internet to do our job, but we don't have to let it take over our lives.
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The interface itself is radically clean, no notification spam, no messy widgets.
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Everything I do use, I can choose to have on my sidebar, hide it if I want to.
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One of my favorite new features is the flow state feature.
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Opera Air has curated focus music and audio frequencies built into the browser, so you don't need a separate Spotify tab clogging up your RAM space.
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Speaking of that, in my opinion, like out of all the ones I tried so far, this is one of the lightest browsers I've ever used and also another reason why it's my main browser.
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On the float state tab, you just click the button, pick what you want to use, and it plays focus music while you work.
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When you're done, you close your laptop and get back to the rest of your life.
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If you want a browser that actually helps you stay on track and get more of your day back, download Opera Air for free using the link in my description.
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So what are subliminals actually?
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Let's start from the beginning.
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A subliminal is any kind of stimulus that exists below the threshold of your subconscious awareness.
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The word itself comes from the Latin sub meaning below and limit meaning threshold.
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When we're talking about subliminal audio, we're also talking about affirmations or messages that have been recorded
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and then layered underneath music or ambient sound or frequencies at a volume that your conscious mind cannot hear.
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So when you come across a subliminal, you press play and you might hear some rain sounds or lo-fi music.
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But underneath that, there can be statements like, I am confident, I am worthy of love, I attract abundance.
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All playing at a level that your ears technically receive, but your conscious brain doesn't register.
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So why does this have to be subliminal?
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Your conscious mind processes 40 to 50 bits of information per second.
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This may sound like a lot until you learn that your subconscious mind processes approximately 11 million bits per second.
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Let that sink in for a bit.
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Your subconscious is doing super heavy lifting of your entire existence and you barely even get access to it.
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So the theory behind subliminals is that if you can deliver all these positive affirmations directly into your subconscious mind,
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you bypass the critical filter of your conscious brain where you may be thinking things like, I know that's not true, I'm not actually confident, why are we lying?
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So that those affirmations can rewire your newer pathways through neuropasticity.
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Your brain literally forms new connections based on repeated input at the subliminal level without your conscious resistance getting in the way.
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This is why subliminals are so popular for anything related to self-improvement, working on your self-concept, your physical appearance,
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money, relationships, weight loss, career success, all of it.
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Others claim that it can even do things like change your height, your eye color.
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I would love to hear from you guys in comments
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if you think that's actually effective or not
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because I do believe in the power of our minds to change our lives radically
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which is why I'm working on creating my own collection of subliminals meditations and frequencies with all kinds of positive affirmations.
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It's all going to be part of my Stoic Angels membership 2.0.
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If you're interested you can sign up for the wait list in my description box.
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But overall we still need to understand the full picture before we come into any judgment
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because the history of subliminal messages goes way deeper than this.
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The history of hacking your subconscious mind didn't begin with subliminal creators on the internet of course.
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There was historical evidence in the 5th century BC suggesting that Greek philosophers, specifically from the school of sylphism,
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believed there is no absolute truth and truth is created from persuasion and influence.
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But subliminal theory was applied by one man a hundred years ago.
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His name was Edward Barnets.
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He is known as the father of PR, public relations, and modern day advertising.
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Think slogans from brands that you remember, logos, annoying jingles that get stuck in your head, all came from this man's work.
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But what most people don't know is that he was also the nephew of Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis.
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He took his uncle's theories about this unconscious mind and weaponized it for advertising.
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For example, manufacturing the idea of smoking in public is a feminist movement to boost tobacco sales amongst women.
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He went on to also work for major corporations and even with presidents to manipulate the masses.
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So if Barnet was the precursor who proved your subconscious is easily influenced, he used it for capitalism.
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and then in 1957, a market researcher named James Vickery took that concept somewhere even more unsettling.
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Vickery claimed
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that he ran a six-week experiment at a movie theater in New Jersey where he flashed eat popcorn
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and drink Coca-Cola on the screen for one three thousandth of a second, which is way too fast for anyone to consciously see.
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He said his subliminal advertising resulted in an increase of popcorn sales by 57% and coke sales by 18%.
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The world lost its mind.
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Governments started banning subliminal ads.
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The CIA wrote an internal report about it.
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This fear of subliminal control was headline news all over and Vicari became the origin story of subliminals as a concept.
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Here's the reason why the word subliminal is part of our mainstream vocabulary, but here's the plot twist.
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A few years later, Vaikyuri admitted the whole story was made up to promote his failing marketing firm.
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It was a lie.
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But by then, it didn't even matter.
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The idea had already taken place, and this man's fake news actually inspired decades of real scientific research into how subliminal perception actually works,
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because that hypothesis had already existed way before this fake news story.
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But this origin basically influenced how we see subliminals today, MKUltra, when governments got involved.
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Very quickly, I want to touch on government programs because around the same time in 1953, the CIA had launched MKUltra,
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which was a top-secret research program exploring methods of mind control, experiments involving psychedelics, administer to people without their knowledge or consent,
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hypnosis, sensory deprivation, electroshock therapy and most of all subluminal messaging techniques.
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The program ran for roughly two decades before it was exposed in the 70s in congress
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but much of the documentation had already been destroyed by then.
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However there are some documents that survived in declassified files that we can still find today on the CIA website.
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Now I'm not getting into conspiracy territory because these experiments actually really did happen for decades which tells us two things.
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One, the subconscious mind is so powerful that a secret government program was built around studying the manipulation of it.
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And second, the tools of subconscious influence can either be used ethically or unethically,
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which matters a lot, because this means your awareness of how they work is absolutely for your own protection.
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Since then, subliminal messaging has shown up everywhere in advertising and political campaigns, even in children's media.
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Music videos too are in itself a very powerful subliminal tool combining both visuals
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and audio that invokes strong emotional resonance from the viewer.
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There was a Judas Priest trial in the 90s where the
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band was accused of embedding the phrase do it in one of their songs.
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Eventually the case was dismissed because they couldn't prove anything
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and this is a whole rabbit hole going all the way back to the Beatles.
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And think about which era the Beatles comes from.
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If you have the time look up the track Revolution 9 by the Beatles and listen for yourself.
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They might be one of the first instances of subliminal loops existing in modern-day pop music.
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When I was in school, my professor who was an illustrator had a lot of these stories.
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One of them, he admitted that a part of his job at a very famous superhero comic book brand,
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which I won't name, was to insert specific types of subliminal imagery in his art.
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And then he just started kind of doing it for fun, like, haha let's draw a private part here nobody will ever know
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but technically speaking although the fcc discourages subliminal advertising they never
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actually banned it since then modern science has taken a more nuanced look at it
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and what researchers have found is way more interesting than the binary question of do subliminals work
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or not what does the science actually say i'm going to give you the real science behind subliminals
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because a lot of the content you see online is either this will change your entire face structure overnight
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or it's pseudoscience garbage so let's look at these studies
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and see what's for real i found a 2007 study done
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where students were subliminally exposed to words related to intelligence right before a practice exam
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and they actually performed better in a real midterm about four days later researchers at yale also found
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that older individuals were subliminally exposed to positive stereotypes about aging showed measurably improved physical functioning
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that lasts for several weeks there were also brain imaging studies from 2010 through 2015
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that have also shown that subliminal stimuli produce measurable changes in the amygdala
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which processes your emotions the insula involved in conscious awareness the hippocampus
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which handles memory and the visual cortex your brain literally responds to information
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that you didn't consciously know you received the fourth study
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that i'm referencing is led by professor nilly levy at University College of London, which demonstrated that people can process emotional information from subliminal images.
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That research itself showed that negative subliminal messages were actually processed more effectively than positive ones,
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which by the way, is very important for how you choose to subliminals, which we'll get to very shortly.
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Here's the nuance though.
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A study by Karamans and colleagues found
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that subliminal brand priming only influenced people's choices when they were already motivated in that direction.
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So subliminal exposure to Lipton iced tea only made thirsty people even more likely to choose that brand.
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But it actually had no effect on people who weren't even thirsty.
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This is what most subliminal creators online ignore.
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Subliminals appear to amplify existing motivation in prime existing neural networks.
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They don't actually appear to override someone else's free will or create desire from nothing.
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They work with what's already inside of you and not against it.
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And that, my angels, is actually the key to using them correctly.
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So how do we listen to subliminals the correct way?
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I call this the align method because subliminals aren't magic, but it isn't nonsense either.
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It is a tool.
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And just like any other tool, you use it to build what you want.
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A. Audit your affirmations.
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Before you press play on any subliminal, you need to know exactly what affirmations are embedded in that audio.
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And I cannot stress this enough.
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Most people are down subliminals from random YouTube videos or SoundCloud accounts
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and they have no idea what messages they're actually absorbing into their subconscious.
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Would you take a pill without knowing what's in it?
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So look for creators who list their affirmations.
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Make sure it's someone that you trust and pay attention to the construction of those affirmations.
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This matters a lot more than you think.
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For example, an effective subliminal affirmation should be in present tense.
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I am confident, not I will be confident.
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Your subconscious does not understand future tense the same way.
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It will more likely think I will be as in I am not yet.
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And make sure that it is positively framed as well.
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Like I am calm and centered, not I am not anxious.
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Again, that's another thing that your subconscious mind struggles to understand.
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It can't really progress negation.
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So when you're saying not anxious, the image that your brain creates is still anxious.
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So make sure it resonates with you emotionally as well.
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Because generic affirmations will produce generic results.
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So something specific like I radiate magnetic confidence
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and people are naturally drawn to my energy is so much better than I am confident.
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L, limit your focus.
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Another big mistake I see is people are running six different subliminal playlists at the same time
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and then they're wondering why nothing works.
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Just because your subconscious mind can process a lot doesn't mean the messages can't get muddy
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if you play a bunch of them together.
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So think about it like this.
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If you went to the gym and you tried to fit every single machine into one workout at once, you wouldn't get stronger.
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You would just be tired and worn out with no targeted progress.
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Your mind is the same way.
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So pick a couple of areas to start with max
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and run those subliminals consistently at least a few weeks before you add anything else.
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Your subconscious needs focused repeated input to form new neural pathways.
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So unfocused input will create unfocused results.
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I integrate consciously.
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This may be the reason why subliminals don't work for most listeners because subliminals are not a replacement for conscious inner work.
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It is a supplement.
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Basically, it's like a booster, if you will.
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Like if you're listening to a self-conscious subliminal that says, I am worthy of love, but you spend the rest of your day in a thought loop of nobody will ever love me,
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you're creating a war inside your nervous system.
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The subliminal is saying one thing, your conscious mind saying another, and your subconscious will always prioritize the louder and more emotionally charged input,
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which is usually the negative thing, which is why we have to carefully manage our emotions or else they will spill everywhere and create messes that nobody wants.
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So here's how integration can look like in practice.
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When you're listening to subliminals in the morning, spend three minutes afterwards in silence.
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Place your hand on your chest and consciously repeat the same affirmations from the subliminal to yourself and really feel it.
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Let your body respond to it and notice where any resistance comes up and breathe into it instead of pushing it away.
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During the day, try and catch yourself when your thoughts contradict your subliminal work.
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You don't have to force being positive.
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Just know this like, oh I'm telling myself that again.
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I've been trying to rewire that thought.
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Try and build more awareness without judgment.
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So your subliminal is the seed, your conscious awareness is like the water, so without both nothing grows.
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G, guard your state.
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When you listen matters almost as much as what you listen to.
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The reason why subliminal creators recommend listening during sleep
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or right before bedtime is because your brain transitions through specific states of consciousness.
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During the day you're primarily in beta state.
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You're alert, analytical, you may be critical and this is when your conscious filter is the strongest.
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So your subconscious is way harder to access during the day
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but as you relax towards sleep your brain moves into alpha
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and then theta states and these are the states where your subconscious is the most receptive.
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Your critical filter relaxes, new information can be absorbed with less resistance.
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So the optimal listening windows are right when you wake up, before you check your phone, before your conscious mind fully activates in the morning and you're still in that liminal mental state,
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and also right before you fall asleep.
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Lastly, during meditation or deep relaxation.
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So any kind of practice that shifts you out of analytical beta state and into a more receptive brainwave pattern.
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You want to avoid listening to subliminals while you're stressed, anxious, feeling obsessed or worried, scrolling social media, or when you're in a reactive emotional state.
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When your nervous system is activated, your subconscious mind is actively trying to protect you, so it's not in reception mode right now.
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If anything, you want to take care of your stressful emotional state first before listening to subliminals.
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Lastly, N, neutralize resistance.
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If you start listening to subliminals and you notice increased anxiety, vivid dreams, emotional purging, you get irritated or old memories start resurfacing,
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don't panic and don't stop.
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Because what you're experiencing is what I call a subconscious detox.
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When new programming meets old programming, sometimes there's friction.
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Your subconscious has been running the same story in your head for years, maybe even decades.
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Things like, I'm not enough, I'm not worthy, I can't have what I want.
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So when a subliminal starts introducing the opposite, your subconscious mind might actually try and resist it or, you know, it might even try to test you.
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This is actually a sign that your subliminals are working and the discomfort is your old identity trying to maintain itself.
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The way through this is not to double down and add even more subliminals or listen even harder, force yourself to be positive but let the emotions move through you,
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journal it, channel it out, cry if you have to and you need to release that emotion.
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Take walks, talk to someone that you trust, talk to your therapist about it, and let your nervous system process what's being reorganized.
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I went through all of this myself when I first started using subliminals consistently about two weeks in.
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I started to hit a wall and I felt more emotional than I have been in months.
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So old insecurities that I thought I dealt with came right back to the surface
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and I remember just sitting my bathroom floor at midnight thinking oh my god why am I getting worse
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but I didn't give up and I just kept going about a week after
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that I forgot any of that even happened
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because I got through it my thoughts were softer I was much calmer
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so it helps a lot to notice when you start to see
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that change as you let go of your old narratives
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and that's the thing about subliminals the changes itself can be very subtle
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but eventually it is a very very powerful tool to change your entire trajectory.
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This is why I've been working on creating my own subliminal collection and sharing it with my members.
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My waitlist is going to be in the description box
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and I'm still working on it but it will be done very soon
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because I want to make sure we do this right.
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That there's nothing negative hidden in the messaging, it's made correctly, it's effective and then eventually not just testing it on myself
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but also people who want to be my test object so
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if you're interested in learning more about subliminals i want to know
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because i'm thinking about doing a part two of this video
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that goes into specific types of subliminals what different frequencies will do for you and
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if you want to plan out your own practice beyond just
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listening to a youtube video i made my pdf guide for you
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and it's free to download so check it out
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if you haven't already and
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if you're interested in learning more make sure you subscribe every
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video in my channel is designed to give you one more tool for the ideal life
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that you're building whether that's physical mental
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or spiritual remember angels your growth isn't something
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that just happens to you randomly you have to be the active operant power of your life every single day
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and today you showed up you learned about a new tool
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which really counts and
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if nobody else has told you this today i love you i believe in you angel
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and i will see you in the the next video.
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Thank you.
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Thank you.
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Thank you.
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Thank you.
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Thank you.
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Who Is This Video For?
This video is ideal for intermediate to advanced English learners focusing on english speaking practice or IELTS speaking practice. Its calm, conversational tone and mix of explanatory and anecdotal content make it perfect for shadowing—repeating phrases to mimic rhythm, intonation, and pacing. Learners aiming to improve fluency in discussing complex topics (like psychology or self-development) will find it especially useful, as it balances technical terms with everyday language.
Words & Idioms Worth Stealing
- Near and dear to my heart: Something deeply important or personal. Example: "Sustainability is near and dear to my heart."
- Rabbit hole: A complex, time-consuming detour. Example: "I started researching coffee and fell down a rabbit hole of farming methods."
- Let that sink in: Take time to understand something. Example: "The universe is 13.8 billion years old—let that sink in."
- Drastic: Extreme or severe. Example: "She made drastic changes to her diet."
How to Get the Accent Right
The speaker uses a clear, neutral accent with natural pauses and stress on key terms (e.g., "subLIMinal," "subCONscious"). To practice, use a shadowing app like shadowspeak to replay short clips. Focus on:
- Intonation: Rising pitch when asking rhetorical questions ("So why does this have to be subliminal?") and falling pitch for statements.
- Reduction: Words like "want to" become "wanna" and "got to" become "gotta" in casual speech—mimic these to sound natural.
- Pacing: The speaker slows down for complex ideas (e.g., "11 million bits per second")—match this to emphasize importance.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | have been using · I've been trying · has been running |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is called · have been recorded · is created |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have heard · has curated · have been recorded |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | second, which is · people who weren · thing, which is |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.